Cousin Hilda
by Annemiek
Summary: Hilda turns out not only to be existing in Arnold’s dream. She’s real, and visiting Arnold’s school for one week. Read my fanfiction and travel with Arnold, Helga and Hilda to Hillwood City to find out if Hilda will be as sweet as she was in his dream.
1. Chapter 1

**Cousin Hilda**

*~*~*

My first fanfiction.. I sure hope you enjoy reading it :)  
My english isn't perfect, sorry for that ^^

*~*~*

It's a warm day in August. The sun is shining it's light over the roofs of the large buildings that make the skyline of Hillwood City. The birds are singing their morning songs, and most people are getting ready for another day at work.

_HEY ARNOLD! HEY ARNOLD! HEY ARNOLD!_ Arnold slides his blanket off and puuls out the little wire which is connected to the large potato with a football shaped head on top of it. His alarm clock immediately stops yelling his name, and the yellow haired boy gets up, stretches his arms and yawns.

He knows there's always a line for the bathroom at this time a day, so he walks downstairs to make himself some breakfast and lunch first.  
"Good morning, Kimba. Sit down. I see you survived the attack of the maneating hyena's?" She gives him his breakfast in the shape of a smiley face. "Maneating hyena's?", Arnold asks with confusion in his voice. He grabs the piece of bacon and holds it under the table when nobody's looking, knowing that a certain pink resident is waiting for the crispy, greasy piece of meat. Abner swallows it in one bite, as he does every morning.

After finishing his breakfast, Arnold goes upstairs and opens his closet to search for his favorite red shirt with yellow stripes, his turquoise-like colored sweater and his light blue jeans. He walks to the first floor of the boarding house to find the line before the bathroom to be gone. "Just finished in the office, Shortman. It's all yours." The old man holds the door open for his favorite grandson.

*~*~*~*

Gerald knocks on the door of the boarding house. Arnold rushes downstairs and opens the door while he grabs his jacket with his other hand and quickly pulls it over his shoulders. "Hey Gerald!" They perform their greeting ritual by shaking their thumbs in sync and head of to PS118.

The fresh fifthgraders are slightly taller, but that's pretty much all that has changed. Mr. Simmons is transferred to the fifth grade as well, so he's still their teacher. And all their friends are still in their class too.

They're chatting about random stuff while hurrying to get to school before the bell rings. The noise of passing traffic and horns of impatient drivers overpowers their voices while they wait for the light to turn green. "What did you say?", Arnold yells back at Gerald. "I said we should go to Gerald field after school!", the dark boy shouts back at his friend. "Ow. Okay, let's do that."

They walk on when the light changes color and a sudden bypassing wind blows a bunch of leaves forward. The two friends eagerly follow them till the end of the street, where PS118's playground is.  
When they reach PS118, they notice the geeks running and jumping in circles, playing hide and seek. Eugene and Curly are dancing like girls and Nadine is petting her new ladybug friend. Most of their cooler classmates are sitting on the bench near the door, waiting for the bell to ring. It is unusually quiet though. Usually Helga's loud voice breaks that silence, yelling something like "Look who we have there, it's Footballhead and Tall Hair Boy...".  
He looks around, but she is indeed nowhere to be seen. He doesn't mind at all. He does notice Lila standing near the cool group. Lila, the girl he had liked for a long time, but his love for her is over now, ever since she overheard his conversation with Timberly. But looking on the bright side, he now has more time to spend with his best friend Gerald, now that he is totally free from girltrouble and goofy feelings in his stomach.

They walk towards the group of kids sitting on the bench. "Hey guys.." Arnold says with a cool voice, while putting his hands in his pockets. The group responds by greeting back in their own special way.

"Is your dress new, Rhonda? It's ever so beautiful." Lila lifts her hands to her face, to make a gesture to emphasize her words. "Why yes, my mother bought this ensemble last week, it's made in Paris." They watch Rhonda standing up and spinning to show her new dress, which on her saying has cost a small fortune. It does look pretty nice, Arnold agrees.

One moment later, Sid, who sounds rather upset, comes running towards the group across the playground. "GUYS!" He's out of breath, he has clearly seen something amazing and has been running as fast as his short legs can carry him to tell his friends the big news. He places his hands on his knees while trying to catch his breath. "You.. wouldn't.. believe.. what I.. saw..!" He stands up and throws his hands in the air to make it look even bigger.. "I was.. ..saw Helga.. ..and then.. ..two Helgas.. and.." He is still out of breath and because of the excitement it's hard to form complete sentences

"_TRRRRRR.._" Before he has a chance to finish his story the bell rings. The kids get up from the bench and slowly walk towards the doors. They don't seem to be very interested in Sid's story. They know Sid tends to make a big deal out of most things. "Wait guys!", and he grabs Arnold's arm to stop him from going inside. The blond boy waits for the bell to stop ringing and pulls loose from Sid's grip. "You can tell me along the way to class. Let's go." He too knows how Sid tends to overreact on most occasions. Just last week he practically invited his whole class to his funeral because he ate a bowl of cereal which turned out to be expired.

"I was..", he pauses, "_searching for my schoolbooks_..", he pauses again to show his books, which he obviously found.. _if he really did loose them_, Arnold thought.. "in our treehouse in Mighty Pete, and I suddenly heard voices. Familiar voices. It was Helga. But she was not alone, Arnold! She was together with a girl who looked just like her! It wasn't a dream, Arnold. I know what I saw. There are TWO HELGA's!"  
"Slow down, Sid. I'm sure it was someone else. Don't worry about it, okay?" Even though Arnold deep down does see his unibrowed classmate as a friend, and he does care about her, he won't show it. Especially not in front of his friends. So even though he's curious who exactly it was that Sid saw, he decides to wait and see.

*~*~*~*

They all sit down in their seats and wait for Mr. Simmons and his 'special introductions'. The door opens, but it is Helga. "Ya are just in time, Helga. Mr Simmons ain't here yet.." Stinky announces. "Thanks for clearing that one up.." she growls while rolling her eyes. She just passed her teacher in the hallway, but even if she didn't, it was obvious that he wasn't in yet.

She walks towards Phoebe. "I saved you a spot.", Phoebe shakes her head in the direction of the seat next to her. "Thanks.." Helga sits down and lays her head down on her arms. "I'm having the worst day of my life, and it's not even noon yet!" "Really, Helga? That sounds awful. What happened?" Phoebe asks.  
Helga sits up and leans her head on her hands while staring into the distance. "It's my cousin Hilda.."  
Arnold, who is sitting one seat next to Helgas, looks up when hearing the name Hilda, although he doesn't remember where he heard it before.  
"She's visiting us this week, and I have to spend the whole day with the geek."  
"I'm sure she's not that bad, Helga.", Arnold responds  
"Well, I'M sure YOU of all people know better, footballface! Being stuck with that geek Arnie wasn't a lot of fun, was it?" She turns her head and looks him in the eyes with her hands crossed, waiting for an answer. He decides not to go there, and wipes the question away with one of his clever answers. "You shouldn't judge people before you really know them."  
"Look who's talking.." she mutters beneath her breath.

*~*~*~*

A few minutes later, the door opens and Mr. Simmons enters the room. "Class! Be quiet please. I have a special announcement. We'll be having an exchange student this week. Please treat her with the same respect you all treat eachother!"  
"Well, that won't be a problem.." Helga smirks, after which some laughter sounds, coming from different places in the classroom. "Please welcome Hilda."  
He raises his hand at the door, making a gesture to let her know she can enter the classroom. "Please come in.."  
While Helga seems obsessed by her pencil which seems to be able to bend pretty far without breaking, the rest of the class is eagerly watching the door opening to check out the new girl.

Hilda steps inside and looks self assured into the classroom. The similarity between the two cousins is amazing. Apart from the slightly lighter blond haircolor, the pony tail to the back, and their clothes, they could have been twins.  
"Hey guys, I'm Hilda." She looks around. "Well.. this doesn't look all that bad. Yep, I think I'll have a great time hangin' out with these people..", she says out loud to herself.

Mr. Simmons explains some stuff to her, while dragging an extra desk into the classroom.  
Stinky suddenly notices the similarity too, and informs the class. "She looks just like you, Helga, only she's prettier. And she talks just like you, only she's nicer.." Helga turns around, raises her fist and scowls: "You'd better put a sock in it if you want to make it till tomorrow, Stinko!"

Some laughs are hearable across the classroom. Gerald turns to Arnold, who is sitting on his left. "I agree with Stinky this time" he jokes, but notices that Arnold doesn't react. He's staring at the chalkboard, looking slightly confused.  
"Arnold?" Still no reaction from his best friend. "Hey man, you okay?" Arnold snaps out of his daze and turns to Gerald with his eyes wide open. He leans over and whispers: "I.. I had a dream about this girl!".

*~*

So, that was chapter one. Hope you liked it.


	2. Chapter 2, Who is she?

**Chapter 2  
**_Who is she..?_

_*~*_

_Thanks for the reviews ^^ Yes, Hilda is a very interesting person, and because she only appeared in Arnold's dream, the story can go so many ways without ruining the canon.. I have an awesome idea for an ending, but that's a surprise, you'll have to wait and see xD _

_Well, on with the story!_

_*~*_

„_I had a dream about this girl!"_

Gerald looks at Arnold as if he is seeing a ghost, with his mouth half open. „You.. what..?!",he loudly whispers back and lifts his arm to rub his ear, making sure he heard correctly. „I'm telling you, it's the same girl! Even her name.." he looks back at Hilda, who's still helping Mr. Simmons with placing the desk in front of Phoebe's, near the window. „You're crazy,man." Gerald answers „You probably saw her picture once, you've been at Helga's place before, right?"

„Class, be quiet please. Get your books and open them on page ten." Mr. Simmons sits down behind his desk and searches for his teachers book. Arnold turns back and looks in his desk to get his book. He opens it, and then looks at Hilda, who sits in front of Phoebe now, close to the teachers desk. It's weird how things can turn. One moment he's chatting with his friends, sharing memories about a birthday party they all went to last week, and the next moment he's staring in confusion at a girl which he never expected to be real, always had believed to be merely a reflection of his own subcontiousness. He leans his head on the palms of his hands, while staring at her, trying to remember his dream. The blond boy closes the little gap between his eyelids, and sees her sitting on the ground near the movie theater, while looking at the moon which lit the landscape in front of them. She liked watching the moon better than seeing a movie, it gave her inspiration. At least that's what she told him in the dream.. He feels a smile growing on his face while thinking about that.

„Arnold! ... Arnold!! Please pay attention!" The voice of Mr. Simmons suddenly sounds in his daydream, and he opens his eyes while still having a large smile on his face, he seems totally lost in his memories. The daydreamer looks up and notices all his classmates watching him, grinning and whispering. Hilda smiles back at him. His cheeks color slightly red. It's not like this never happened before. Like the dreamy kid that he is, Arnold tends to daze off pretty often, but usually he's staring outside through the window, painting the sky, coloring the clouds, flying along with his imagination. Never before has he gotten lost into.. He looks at Mr. Simmons, who is waiting for him to pay attention to his book instead of the inside of his eyelids. „I'm sorry" And he turns to his book, trying to find out where Mr. Simmons stopped reading.

*~*~*~*

12 'o clock, the first half of the day passed without any abnormalities. The bell rings, the cue for the fifthgraders to jump up from their seats and Mr. Simmons is left talking to the walls. The kids try to beat the other grades to the lunch line to be the first so they won't miss the mashed potatoes, sugar corn and lemon pudding. After attacking the lunchlady and putting their plates on the table, the group gathers around Hilda when the two cousins enter the lunchroom. Helga's standing next to Hilda, looking rather uninterested. She has been planning to shake her off, and hopes she can dump Hilda with her classmates by introducing them. „Well.. you probably wonder who these looo.. guys are.. These are Rhonda and Lila.. „ She turns towards Hilda, holds her hand next to her mouth so her classmates can't hear her, mumbling „you don't want to hang out too much with Little Miss Perfect and the fashion queen.." And turns to the group again, pointing at the next one. „This is Eugene.. stay away from him, he's a total jinx. And these are Stinko.." „Ma name's Stinky, Helga!" „Whatever, Smelly.. And Harold and Sid.. And then we have the Footballhead and Tall hair b.." She points to an empty spot where she thought they were standing, but they aren't there. „Hey! Where ARE the two lame-brains..?" She looks around, but unable to spot the two.

Meanwhile, Arnold and Gerald are still near their classroom. „I'm tellin' you man, you're startin' to loose your mind!" He looks slightly worried at his best friend. Gerald has always been the cool guy, rational, not believing in supernatural things like visions and fortune tellers. So there has to be a reason why Arnold dreamed about Helga's cousin. And the only explanation he can think of is that he has seen her before. It makes perfect sense to Gerald. And he wants to prevent Arnold from being disappointed if she'd turn out to be far from the girl in his dream. Arnold on the other hand, always trusts his heart, his intuition, his dreams. It never turned out to be wrong. He looks back at Gerald and smiles lightly. „I know what I'm doing." He starts walking towards the cafeteria and Gerald follows him. „Don't worry about me, man. Let's go, maybe Helga wants to introduce us to her." Gerald looks slightly confused at him. „Don't forget she's Helga's cousin, loverboy.."

*~*~*~*

When the two reach the cafeteria, they notice the group of fresh fifthgraders, who are now walking towards a lunch table to sit down, Hilda's walking in the middle. They all seem to be trying to find out more about her. Although she doesn't really like all the attention, she answers all the questions. Helga's sitting at a different lunch table, together with Phoebe. Unfortunately there's no place left at the table where Hilda's sitting, so Arnold persuades his friend to sit at Helga's table, with the intention to hear her out about her cousin. Gerald growls quietly about not wanting to sit over there, but he doesn't want to sit alone either, so follows Arnold anyway. That, and the fact that Phoebe is sitting with Helga, the quiet, sweet Japanese girl he's had a little crush on ever since the fourth grade. They step in lunch line to find most of the food already to be gone.

„Looks like we're in luck, Phoebs.", Helga says while looking at Hilda's table. Her plan has worked, she got rid of Hilda quite easily. She grabs her sandwich and takes a bite, when she notices that Arnold and Gerald are walking their way. Slightly shocked she tries swallowing the whole piece of bread to be prepared to react when her beloved footballhead dares sitting down at HER table, but nearly chokes in the chunk. She gasps for air, balls her right hand into a fist and hits her chest while coughing. „Are you alright, Helga?" Phoebe asks. She doesn't respond and tries to keep her cool by taking another bite and acts as if nothing happened. „Well, if if isn's foosfallheas 'n wall hair woy.." she mumbles with her mouth full, while looking at Arnold and holding her sandwich tight with both hands.

„Mind if we sit here?", Arnold asks politely, but doesn't wait for an answer and the boys sit down to dig in to the bowl with corn and the half sandwich, which Arnold brought, and shared with his best friend. They got some extra corn, 'cause corn was all that was left. „Hilda seems to be quite popular.", Arnold announces while turning around in his seat to look at the group. „Indeed she doesn't seem to have a hard time fitting in..", Phoebe reacts. Helga just looks at her now flat sandwich, she feels like strangling it. „No kiddin'.." Gerald answers.. He decides to keep quiet, let them have fun with the new girl for a while, it'll all blow over soon and then he'll be the coolest guy in class again. He smiles at himself while thinking that. Arnold looks up at Helga after swallowing the last piece of his sandwich. „Helga.. Do you think you could.. introduce us.. me.. to your cousin when we're back in class?" „Ow.." she looks up at Arnold and smashes the remaining part of her sandwich on the table. „So, you like miss popular too, ey?" Arnold looks down at his hands while pushing his thumbs together. He's thinking about whether or not to tell her about the dream. He decides not to, Helga will probably just ridicule him for it. He looks up again, and answers: „She looks like a nice person.." he pauses.. „Uh, Helga.. Do you know by any chance if you cousin might know Arnie?" Nooo, I DON'T know that." She growls. „Why?" „No reason.. I just wondered.. cause.." he pauses again. „..Cause they wear the same sort of clothes?" Helga finishes his sentence. „So? There are millions like that. Why would you care anyway?" „Well, it's not bad to show some interest, it's not easy being new in the group..", he aswers. „Yeah, she's having a hard time fitting in..", Helga says sarcastically.

*~*~*~*

Meanwhile, at the other table, Hilda has been telling about her life at the farm. „It's kinda boring where I live actually. I go to our little school a few days a week. And afterwards we usually hang out, go to the movies, or go fishing. The nights are beautiful though. We have a great view, the sight of the sun fading behind the horizon is incredibly inspiring. And when I can't sleep, I get up and stare out of the window, I watch the moon, and you hear nothing but the songs of crickets and frogs." The kids have been watching and listening to her every move. „That sounds ever so enchanting!" Lila says. Stinky turns to Harold and Sid, „Willikers, she is as lovely as the girl on the milk package.." „No way!", Harold yells, „Now who likes to watch the moon? It's boring!" And Rhonda of course is fascinated by her clothes. „Although your outfit isn't very.. modern, and those socks are really not-done.." She sticks her hand out to make a gesture of repulsion, „..I like how you matched the hair ribbon with your.." she spins her hand while trying to think of a word for the weird looking combination of a dress and pants that she's wearing, „..dress-thingy.. Your handbag is VERY cute by the way." Hilda looks down at her dress, and then looks at Rhonda's. „Now that you mention it.. My jumper pants do look kinda off here in the big city.." Although she just like Helga doesn't care about clothing that much, it seems that she really wants to fit in. „Maybe you could help me to find something better." Rhonda's eyes are sparkling, she immediately begins imagining what could look good on Hilda, and smiles widely when realizing that Hilda wanted her help. „I'm sure I can find you the perfect ensemble!" Hilda looks back at her. „Great"

*~*~*~*

After lunch, they walk back to their classroom. Gerald and Phoebe have been chatting about the annual cheese festival which will be this weekend. And Arnold and Helga are following them while Helga is talking, more to herself then to Arnold, about her horrible morning. „..Can you believe that?! And then Big Bob said.." she stops when she noticed Hilda. „Hey! Hilda!" she yells. Hilda, who just came out of the girls room together with Lila, turns around while giggling at Lila's cute story. „Hey Helga." She looks back at Lila, „I'll see you in class." And she turns to Helga again and walks in their direction. „What's up, girl?" Helga looks back at her, clearly not enjoying how she hears herself in Hilda. Hilda seems to be just as cool and spontaneous and direct as she is, only without the 'I'm bad' attitude, and their classmates just seem to like her more. How frustrating. „Uhrr.." Don't say something bad, be nice!, she thinks to herself.. „I.. This is Arnold." She gasps while preparing to make some nasty comment about him, but can stop herself just in time, and to prevent herself from snapping again she crosses her arms and walks away, trying to look tough without having to say anything.

„Why hello, Arnold.", Hilda says while shaking his hand. „Hi.." Hilda looks at him for a moment, and immediately notices the similarity. „Are you by any chance Arnie's cousin?" Arnold's eyes widen. „Yeah..!" he answers with great disbelieve. This is getting too weird. Hilda looks at him slightly confused because of his reaction.. „Well.. it's a small world, isn't it..?" „It.. is..", he answers while rubbing the back of his neck and staring at his feet, trying to figure out what to say next. „So, have you been to the big city before?", he asks. „No, never..", she starts walking towards their class while telling Arnold about her trip and how she almost missed her train.

~*~

That's the end of chapter 2. Hope you enjoyed it!

Reviews are always welcome ;)

Next chapter will be up soon!

~*~


	3. Chapter 3, to date or not to date

**Chapter 3**

_To date or not to date, that is the question_

_ *~*_

_Thanks for the reviews, guys! I appreciate that a lot 3 _

_I double checked this chapter, so I hope there are less typos and stuff in here this time :) _

_ *~*_

_Tuesday_

The same morning ritual repeats itself until Gerald and Arnold reach the school gates, and see the group of fifthgraders gather around Hilda again. She seems to have found some new clothes. Rhonda proudly shows the kids the outfit she chose for Hilda. Before the two friends have decided what to do to pass the time, the bell rings and Gerald walks inside and follows what now looks to be 'Hilda's' gang..

Arnold forgot his book on the bench near the fence and walks back to get it. When he's just about to turn around and walk back towards the school doors, he hears talking, or is it singing, coming from behind the three garbage cans, a familiar girl's voice. It sounds almost poetic, but he can't make out what is said. He could have sworn he heard his name just now though..

He walks towards the garbage can. Just when he's about to look behind then, he hears a bang and sees Helga jumping up, gasping for air. He looks up, and behind the second garbage can lies Brainy, knocked down so it seems, nothing new there. Although it IS kinda odd.. What's that kid's deal? He should know by now not to get close to Helga, and especially not on strange, abandoned locations like this..

"What are you doing here, Helga?" "Nothing..! I just lost.. my watch..! What are YOU doing here?" Her face has a bright pink color, but that could be from anger just as well as embarrassment. "I.. forgot my books. Who were you talking to?" He looks up at the blond girl who is clearly trying to come up with some sort of excuse, trying to hide her real purpose of hiding behind stuff, talking to herself. "No one.. not that it's any of YOUR business anyway, Footballbrain..", she grumbles. She's still trying to push him away by insulting him, so he won't ever realize that she was talking about HIM. But they both know about her secret love for her oddly headed friend.

She grabs her book and starts walking towards the school entrance. She hears Arnold following her after looking over his shoulder to check if Brainy was alright. "Actually.. Hilda has been pissing me off the last few days. That's what I was talking about.", she states while crossing her arms and growling to herself.

Arnold catches up with her, and sees his blond friend balling her fists, and reaches to the handle of the door to open it and steps into the school building. "Ow come on, Helga.. She's so nice and friendly. How can someone like that piss you off?" She starts walking and it's silent for a moment.

After a few seconds she looks over her shoulder with a strange look of concern in her eyes. "She's not, Arnold..", she turns back and picks up her pace while swinging her arms angrily along with her legs. "Just stay away from her, okay.", she tells him. She sounds more angry now. And one moment later she enters their classroom, followed by Arnold, who is still a little confused. What exactly did she means to say? Hilda is nice, why would he want to stay away from her? Can Helga be scared that Hilda takes away all of her friends, everyone she loves, just like what Olga has been doing to her?

Yet again, Mr. Simmons asks Arnold to pay attention to his book instead of the clouds outside. He opens it, in which the doodles of his last trip through his imagination take him into yet another fictional adventure.

*~*~*~*

After school, Arnold shakes thumbs with Gerald after telling him that he wants to get to know her better. Hilda. She's nice and funny, but there's something different about her. And he wants to find out. "See you tomorrow, Gerald." "You're crazy. Just stay out of trouble, okay man?" Arnold watches how Gerald walks away. He turns around to face his locker, and decides to go by Helga's place before going home. To find Hilda of course. _Just to get to know her_, he tells himself.

The blond boy closes his locker and turns around, only to take a step backward in shock when he almost touched noses with someone. And now he's staring into two beautiful blue eyes. "Hilda..!" "That's my name.", she responds, while smiling because of the little blush that appeared on his face. "Actually, I was planning to pay you a visit today.." She has the same kind of enchanting light in her eyes as he saw before somewhere.. He can't remember where or who it was though.. "Ow?", she asks in confusion. Arnold takes a deep breath. "Well.. I figured you'd be alone tonight, since Helga told me she'd be at Phoebe's place tonight.. and there's this new movie, Evil Twin, in the theater tonight.. Would you like to go with me?" She's staring back into his honest, green eyes. "That sounds like fun.", she smiles at him. She beaks free from their gaze, puts her hands into her pockets and starts walking. "Pick me up at 7, okay?" Arnold just stands there, taken aback, until he hears the school door closing. _She's good.. either that, or she simply doesn't give a hoot._

*~*~*~*

The sun is starting to lower, making long, small shadows and giving Hillwood City a warm, orange-like hue. Arnold sits on the roof of the boarding house, which is accessible from the little window in his glass skylight. He enjoys watching the air balloons that float by. The noise of the fire scares away the few birds that are settling in the treetops. He lifts his arm and looks at his watch, to find out that he lost track of time and has only 5 minutes left to get to Helga's place. He takes the fire stairs which lead to the alley next to the boarding house, yells goodbye to grandpa through the opened kitchen window and rushes towards his blond friend's house.

The moment he turns the corner and walks into Helga's street, he sees Hilda closing the door behind her. She starts walking in his direction. "Hey Arni..Old!", she yells, after which she seems to be slightly shocked. Arnold figures it was an easy mistake to make, he does look like his cousin a little.. a LITTLE..! _No big deal_ "Hey Hilda. Are you ready to see the Evil Twin 4 movie?" "Totally!", she responds. But somehow she's not looking as happy as she sounds.  
The two have been talking about their families and about their past. They arrive at the theater just in time to search for the best spot to sit. Arnold, gentleman that he is, offers to pay for the tickets. He walks up to the ticket-window. "Two tickets to the Evil Twin 4 movie please". "How old are you and your friend, kid?", the saleskid asks. He's just one of those peculiar teenagers with pimples on his face and a squeaky voice that seem to have taken over every sales window in town, thinking they have more power at their underpaid job, and eagerly showing that power to all their customers. "I'm 10", he honestly answers. "Well, that's too bad kid, this movie is rated PG-13, can't let you in without an adult's approval.. new theater rules.." _You gotta be kidding me.., _Arnold thinks. He walks over to Hilda. "I'm sorry, they won't let us pass.." He looks over his shoulder at the kid behind the window, who is now selling a few tickets to a bunch of large teenagers. "Let me handle it.", she states, and grabs the money which Arnold is still holding. "You get us something to drink, and a bucket with popcorn, okay Arnold?", she smiles at him.

She walks towards the ticket window. Not to the window itself, but she opens the door on the side and steps in. _Really weird_, Arnold thinks to himself, while he pays for their snacks. The blond boy sees Hilda step out again, the saleskid looks a little startled, moving his eyes left-right-left-right to check the surrounding, as if he's trying to hide something, but Arnold can't make out what it could be.. "Here are the tickets.. and the change", she smiles at him and hands over the money. "Awesome! How did you.." "Don't ask.", she interrupts.

*~*~*~*

They sit down in their seats. Jazz music, Arnold's favorite, sounds from several sides of the room. It's lit barely by a few light bulb-shaped lamps behind them in the ceiling. Three older kids walk in and hop towards their seats, breaking the silence and beats of the music with their yelling and arguing, trying to make out who gets to sit in the middle. Another group of kids walk in, laughing hysterically at one of the boys who missed the last step of the stairs and fell flat on his face. One moment later the light fades and the commercials start.

The two run out of popcorn soon. Arnold puts his hands behind his head to sit more comfortable, and he quickly dazes off. He remembers the Evil Twin 3 movie. He went there last year, and was surprised, in a negative way, when he found Arnie and Lila there. Lila had told him that she didn't like scary movies. But the day after she went with Arnie. Arnold doesn't like her like her anymore, but it still hurts to think about it.

He suddenly snaps out of his daze because of the screams in the movie. A girl is being chased by a freak with a mask. Arnold secretly hopes for Hilda to place her hand on his when things get scary, _you know, like in the movies_.. But she seems just as brave as her awkward cousin. Helga. Who always seems to show up exactly where the action takes place. _I wonder why she was trying to warn me for Hilda._ Yet again the screams of the audience wake him up. Hilda pushes her elbow in his side, trying to gain his attention. „Great movie, ey Arnold?" She throws a look at him and quickly turns back to the movie. "Yeah, very good.", he lies. He hasn't been paying much attention to the movie. _No problem, the last half hour is usually the best part anyway._

*~*~*~*

After the movie they decide to take a detour to Helga's place. They laugh and chat about the horror they just saw, and eventually reach the pier and sit down on it's wooden floor, with their feet swinging back and forth above the water. "You want something to drink?", Arnold asks, and he walks to the vending machine to buy two Yahoo soda cans.

"Thank you, Arnold." She pulls the lid to open the can. "You know Arnold, there's something I wanted to ask you..", she starts. Arnold freezes just when he crouches down to sit alongside her. For one moment there is an awkward silence. The only noice Arnold hears is the beating of his heart. Even though this was the perfect place for romance, it's just not possible that Hilda likes him. _Not this soon, we only know eachother for two days_.. He has no idea how to respond if she were to like him like him. All he wanted was to get to know her better.

He sits down alongside her, "Okay, what is it, Hilda?" He throws her a look and then stares at the river, which reflects the light of the moon. It makes their faces hue turn to a warm, somewhat orange-like color. "Actually..", she rubs her arm, "I wanted to talk to you about this before, but I was afraid you'd laugh at me." She's looking at her hands with her fingers interlaced and she's spinning her thumbs. "I won't laugh, I promise.", Arnold answers. "It's about Arnie." "ARNIE?!" Arnold, who was leaning forward on his hands, shoots upright in shock. _The only thing worse than Hilda confessing her love, is confessing her love for __**Arnie**__! This can't be happening.. Again.!_

"Yeah.. I never meant to give you false hope.", she continues. "But I really like your cousin a lot.. And I was wondering if you maybe want to help me.. to talk to him or something.. Or at least tell me more about him". Arnold leans back on his hands and stares at the sailboat that floats by. "So, that's why you came to me after school.." She nods. He sighs. Hilda looks at him. "Why are you upset. Do you like me.. like me, or something?" "No!", he quickly answers. "It's not that.. It's just.. I thought.." He looks at the sky, trying to find the right words. "This probably sounds really weird.. It shocked me too actually.. But.." He throws her a look, she's staring at him, and her lovely blue eyes meet his green orbs for just one moment. "I had a dream about you."

He waits for her reaction, but there is none, only the noise of splattering water against the pier. "I dreamed I visited Arnie, and you were there too. You were sitting on the ground, watching the moon, and saying a poem. And you.. ..liked Arnie instead of me." His voice lowers at the last part of the sentence, he suddenly remembers that it went exactly as today. "..And then it turned into a nightmare and they tried to kill me.", he says while slightly laughing at his own silly dream. "But still.. I really thought it meant something when I saw you stepping into our classroom. I thought my subconscious tried to tell me something. I've never seen you before, and yet, I dreamed about you! It doesn't make any sense!" He starts to raise his voice a little because of the disappointment and confusion he's feeling right now.

Hilda stands up without saying a word, and reaches for her purse. "Maybe this'll clear things up for you.." She shows him a picture.. a picture of Arnie's fourth grade class. "He holds on to this picture like it's made of gold. I'm sure he bought it when he visited you." Arnold's eyes widen, "Yes! I remember this! He did show me.." He picks up the photo and takes a closer look. A picture of the group, with their names above their heads. _There is Arnie, I remember that.. And there is Hilda, that I don't remember, but I must have seen her. Gosh, I'm so stupid! _

"So, how about that help with Arnie?", Hilda demands to know. "I guess..", he answers, while still in thoughts, watching his hands. _Why am I always to one who ends up in situations like this_, he questions himself.

*~*

Hope you enjoyed chapter 3!

I'm gonna start writing the next chapter tomorrow, I'll post it asap!

*~*


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